SYSTEM CONTROL
by Will of swords
Summary: What if Kayaba dind't intend to trap the 10000 players in SAO and is now trapped inside too. Follow an OC through a crazy death game were even the creator has to fight for survival and where an AI makes all the rules
1. Prologue

**Authors Note: **There are a few things I want to let you know before you read this story. English is not my first language, so please excuse some mistakes I will be making. You can tell me if I make grave grammatical errors but please refrain from flaming me for every spelling or punctuation error I made. This is my first fanfiction so I would appreciate constructive critics

**Summary: **What if Kayaba Akehiko had a little sister, who was very talented in AI programming. She helped him to create a AI which is able to invent NPC and new Quest, that the game get on one hand more unpredictable and on the other hand would never end. In this story Kayaba didn't intend to trap the players in the world, he just wanted the best MMORPG. Further with this kind of AI he wouldn't know all Quests either.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own SAO or its characters

**Chap 1 The Prologue**

"Alright I made it" exclaimed Yui. Kayaba turned hi head around to take a look onto her computer screen. It showed a lot of complicated calculations. Kayaba looked over them and raised his eyebrows. He could describe his sisters work with just one word _ingenious. _He still couldn't believe that something like this was even possible. Yui had created an AI which was able to program itself. It was an AI which could extend its code to be able to sort out arising problems in the program -code. So it could react to everything thrown at the system and could react to every little bug. So there wasn't any need of a game-master for SAO any more then the System itself could do a better job then any human. For Kayaba there was only one thin left to do. He had to specify some master-rules that thy system could-not change completely.

_The created castle aincrad must not be changed._

_There may be added dungeons Quests and NPC but the structure must stay the same_

_All players are to be treated equally_

_Each floor has a recommended player level, NPC must not exceed this level by more then 10_

_In the castle Aincrad the player level must not exceed 100_

_All values for monster-drops, monster-respawns, NPC-Quests, Quests must stay in their initial setting._

_The save area of the main cites in each floor must not be changed_

_The system must stay divided into Cardinal, bug-finding, and user-assistance programs which must act independently, but there must be a deep cooperation between these programs. _

_Every program which is listed on the white list must not be deleted must have the ability to run when needed (which is declared in its parameters)._

_The system has to follow its own parameters and may not change them._

After a fem minutes Kayaba finished entering the rules into the main program. He added some important security rules to let the system detect foreign software and to defend itself against hacks and cheat attempts.

"I think that is all" Kayaba said more to himself. Yui looked at their work. "The first VRMMORPG, the first game which doesn't need a support-team the first game which is not bound to human fantasy and will grow on its own as long as enough hard-drive space is available. I have to say brilliant work from both of us." She exclaimed optimistically.

Soon was the day of the release. This AI was the last new thing they had created for the launch of SAO. The knew everything else worked perfectly. 1000 players had tested it in the closed beta and the game scored perfectly on all top-lists. There was one problem, the couldn't support many more then 10000 players so only this amount of copies were sold. Kayaba started the game and lay down on the special bed. Then he put on the nerve-gear and dived into the game. He wanted to check everything again before it came to the day of the release.

**Time skip—a few days later**

Today was the big day, today was the game launching. All copies of the game were being sold after some minutes and there was no doubt that these 10000 players would be online when the game starts. Kayaba and Yui had checked everything and were sure that everything worked properly. The hoped that the server could take 10000 players logging in at the same time, but it shouldn't be much of a problem. The both agreed that Yui would stay outside and Kayaba would start playing with all the other payers and she would join later. Now the only had to wait for the time to pass and for the best game to begin. That it would soon turn into the worst game they didn't know.


	2. stand, walk, run

Today was Nov. The 6th. The day of the official launch of the game. Arashi Tono was in a hurry. He wanted to start playing as soon as the game started. If it was really like everyone said, then it would let all his dreams and wishes come true. Arashi started to roll faster. Yes roll, he sat in a wheel chair because of an accident he had two years ago.

It was the most terrible thing ever happened to Arashi. He used to be a free-runner, who was jumping and climbing around the city. He lived his life till the limit and sadly one time something went wrong. He couldn't remember what actually happened. He was free-running with his friends and somehow, he fell and lost consciousness. Later he woke up in the hospital unable to move at all. Some time later it was clear that his lower spine and the nerves for moving his legs were irreparable damaged. He would never be able to do sports again. He wasn't able to stand or walk anymore.

This however was not the only thing that changed his personality changed too. Over the two years he lost his joyfulness and cheerfulness, turned into a quiet and withdrawn young man. Many of his former friends broke off contact with him and weren't interested to do something with him anymore. He realized that many of his friends weren't something that you could call friends and Arashi got depressive. He didn't know what he should do now. He wanted to do something, but what. He had no other idea so he started to train his brain instead of his body he used to train. First with logical and math problems later he tried to achieve the ability to catch every detail of a scene he saw for a short time and remember everything exactly. He wanted to be as good as people orn with an eidetic memory.

Today however, a little of his enthusiasms was breaking his depressed surface. Maybe he was able to walk again, to run again. Not in real life but in the first VRMMORPG. Arashi had played MMORPGs for a short time. He thought that they would let him compensate, and suppress his thoughts of his disability. It hadn't work. Hopefully this game would pass something back to him, what he had lost in the accident.

Finally he reached his home and nearly broke the door. Arashi's mother could understand his excitement but was worried a bit too. It couldn't be a good thing to prefer a virtual world and virtual friends to the real world. She hoped that it would help him to get back his cheerful personality and then to enjoy the life again. Arashi had eaten at school to be able to log in as soon as he was at home. He wanted to play. The preparations took already long enough. He needed both the help of his father and mother to calibrate the nerve-gear and they needed over 3 hours to do it.

Hopefully everything was worth it. Laying down on the bed he put on the strange looking helmet and tried to relax. Only a few more minutes. Then everything would change. The digit number in the screen jumped to 1 pm and he said link start everything went white. Then a transparent window appeared. In his field of vision which asked him to enter a Character name. Arashi thought a little about it and entered "Alaton". Then the window disappeared and suddenly he was standing on a street. Arashi was shocked everything looked so statistically. There was nearly no difference to the real world. Then an other thought entered his mind. He was standing in the street. Standing. As soon as he realized this he lurched against a wall.

There he just stood to get accustomed to the feeling of standing. The other people around him threw strange glances in his direction. Maybe it would have bothered Arashi, if he had seen those glances throw at him but he could only think of the possibilities in this game. He could do again, what he loved to do. Slowly he made a few steps nearly dripping over his own feet. Then he started to run. He didn't care in which direction he was running, he didn't care that he was sometimes stumbling or lurching that NPC and Players had to jump to the side to not be tackled. He just enjoyed the ability to run again.

**Authors Note: **I decided to upload short chapters, but more frequently. And not a long chapter every now and then.


	3. skilling, equipping, fighting

After some time of running Alaton was able to walk and run normally. Even after Years of using a wheelchair his brain didn't forget how to operate his legs and feet. He stopped and looked around. Some glares were thrown at him. Ignoring them Alaton walked around the main plaza. Suddenly a question-mark appeared above the head of a tall man standing at the entrance of a building. It was the indicator, that this NPC had a quest.

Alaton walked to him and the man began to smile.

"Greetings freshling. You look like someone who is in for an adventure. I can help you with some equipment but first you need to decide with which weapon you would like to fight. The fields outside the village are dangerous and you can't avoid fighting." ˹Quest: First skill added˼ Alaton nodded and the question-mark transformed into a transparent exclamation-mark. He opened the diary section in his menu and looked at the quest. ˹First skill˼ the description told him to equip at least one weapon-skill.

He changed to the skill-section and looked at it. There were 4 free slots but at least 20 different available skills. This would be difficult. First the weapon-skill. ˹two-handed swords˼, ˹spears˼, ˹one-handed swords˼, ˹one handed curved swords˼, … There were so many possibilities but none of them interested Alaton. This was a game where Alaton wanted to do the things he wasn't able to do in real life. He wanted to do free-running again. So he didn't want to equip something which would occupy one or both of his hands. He knew he had to choose a weapon, but maybe there was something like knuckledusters. With them he could fight and use his hands for climbing without having to change his equipment.

Sadly he couldn't find something like this, but he found something else ˹blade throwing˼. This could be the most fitting skill for Alaton. He would try it out and if it didn't work, it wouldn't be a problem, it was just a game.

Now for the other skills, this could get difficult. He looked through the list and one skill was screaming at him "take me". ˹sprint˼ It would raise his passive movement speed and help him dodging attacks. In Alaton's opinion this would perfectly fit him. He wasn't planning on using a heavy armor, because he wanted to be as fast and agile as possible. With this skill he could compensate the loss of protection a bit. Yes he would take it, that left one two free slots.

Maybe he should take the skill ˹Detection˼ it would allow him to detect hiding monsters and traps, but it seemed to be a skill take by everyone. He wanted to take something special. ˹X-Ray vision˼ for example. It would allow him to see through walls, and the bones of NPCs and alike. He couldn't understand why this would be a skill, it didn't sound that useful as ˹detection˼ for example. Then again there was this unwritten rule in RPGs that no skill was useless and the skills that seemed like leveling would be a waste could get really strong later on. He looked over the other skills and decided that he wouldn't know before he tries. Only one skill slot left.

The last he found quite fast by looking over the skills again. ˹night-vision˼ it would make him able to see in the dark. This would come in handy because the game day-night rhythm was set like the real one. Alaton knew he would play in the evening and during night, so he needed to see in the dark. Good that he didn't overlook this one. With the 4 equipped skills he saved and closed the menu. The exclamation-mark over the NPC's head wasn't transparent anymore. I walked two steps in his direction and he started to speak again.

"I see, interesting decision. Here I give you some equipment." ˹Beginners equipment added.˼"But you have to do something for me. Then you can keep it. Go to the field near the west-gate and kill 5 Frenzy Boar. Then come to me again." ˹Quest: First skill completed˼ ˹Quest hunting Boars added.˼ Two system messages appeared in my field of vision. Alaton nodded and thanked the NPC for the equipment. It was strange the NPC looked like a real person. If it wasn't for the quest-indicators he wouldn't have known this was an NPC.

Alaton opened his inventory and equipped ˹Beginners leather armor˼ and ˹Beginners throwing blades˼. He looked at his reflection in one shop-window and wasn't quite satisfied. He just looked like everyone else. It was to be expected but he hoped to find a different armor soon. Something that would also fit his style of a free-runner better. Then he started running though the city to the west gate.

On the field there were many players already killing Boars He knew without doubt that they had the same quest as him. So he ran across the large field where only one player with long silver hair was farming. I had read the guide and so I knew one of the most important aspects of this game were sword skills. By going int a specific stance the skill was activated and the system would assist you in your movement. Furthermore without sword skills attacks would make very little damage. I took one of my throwing-blades out of my belt-bag and activated a skill for simply throwing the blade at one of he boars. Its yellow monster-indicator turned red and its HP bar appeared with missing about one sixth. The boar then began charging at my direction. I jumped to the side to avoid being hit and waited to be able to use the skill again. It only took a few seconds and the knife appeared in my belt-bag again. I drew it and continued the fight the same way.

After a short time I managed killing the boar. From the low Exp gain I knew that this had to be one of the weakest monster. Then I realized that the silver-haired young man had stopped fighting and was watching my curiously. He then smiled and walked the hill up to me.

"Hey, interesting choice of weapon. Nobody normally takes throwing blades as fighting skill." he said. "By the way I am Heathcliff"

Alaton smiled. "It was the only skill which would fit me. Am am Alaton nice to meet you"

Heathcliff raised his eyebrows. "Really do you know its advantages and disadvantages." Alaton shook his head. "Okay let me explain it to you. Throwing blades have the least base damage, but you can engage an enemy from the distance. Further throwing-blades have the best critical hit damage. Something like two handed swords make double damage, one handed swords triple damage and daggers quadruple and throwing-blades sextuplet damage."

That was surprising, that meant Alaton had to learn how to hit weak-spots and where they are located on different monsters.

Heathcliff smiled as he could guess my thoughts. "The weak-spot of the boars is between there eyes." he gave Alaton another piece of information. "I have to go. Wish you luck" He then opened his menu and a new window appeared in Alaton's field of vision. ˹Heathcliff sent you a friend request˼ Alaton accepted and Heathcliff walked back to the city. Alaton on the other hand turned to the next Boar to engage it in a fight.


	4. game, world, perfect prison

After some time and killing a lot more then 5 boars Alaton hit level 2 and went back to the starting city to receive the quest-reward. The NPC was still standing at the same spot and was talking to another player probably about the same quest. Then it was Alaton's turn. The NPC waved friendly and the exclamation-mark over his had showed that he had to talk with him.

The NPC started the conversation again with telling Alaton that he was impressed that Alaton managed to kill the 5 boars, what actually hadn't been that hard. It only took some time. Alaton then received the ˹beginners gloves˼ and ˹beginners boots˼ as quest reward. ˹Quest hunting Boars completed˼ He left the main plaza and walked around looking for another quest-indicator.

Suddenly he remembered something. Beside skill there were two stats in this game strength and agility. High STR meant more base-damage, the possibility to wear heavy armor and to have more items in the inventory. High AGI however increased the overall movement speed, cool-down of skills, and increased the damage of certain weapons. AGI was more Alaton's style and would work well with his sprint skill. He opened the skill menu and looked at the stat section. ˹remaining points: 15˼ He decided to ad 5 points to STR and 10 to AGI. He wanted to make an AGI build but shouldn't forget STR completely otherwise he would make very little damage. He pressed the accept button and closed the menu.

Suddenly there was some kind of tension in the air. H couldn't say what it was but looking around he could see some players furiously manipulating their menus. Something happened. Another player was nearly panicking and whispers drown the noises of the city. _"The log-out button is gone", "a game bug", "how can we get out now", "I have called the GMs but no response" _First Alaton was irritated then he opened his menu and found his lo-out button gone too. That was a huge problem, because there was no way to get out of the game by oneself. Alaton wasn't worried to much. The GMs must have gotten enough bug reports by now and surly would fix the problem in a fem minutes or would turn off the servers to force a log-out over every player.

The minutes passed and nothing happened. The tension grew and soon Alaton began to worry. Why weren't the GMs doing something. Then suddenly the bell oft the main city highest tower started to ring. Ding-dong ding-dong the slow monotone sound silenced every sound. Then Alaton was warped in blue light and the next moment he was standing at the main-plaza again. Looking around he could see so many other players that it was save to say that every player was teleported to here.

Suddenly a ˹Warning˼ message appeared above us in the sky. Then the message spread over the entire sky only saying three words a hundred of times: ˹Warning system announcement˼ The whole plaza fell silent you could hear a pin drop. Was there a bug in the game. Then a red liquid began to drip through the system messages and formed a huge red hooded figure. It seemed to have no body and only consisting of its hood and cloak with white gloves. Floating in the air it began to speak.

˹Welcome Players to sword art online. I am Cardinal the main system of this game. You all will have discovered that the log-out button in your main menu is missing. This is not a bug. There is only one way out for you. You must beat the game. Further any attempt to remove the nerve gear will result in your death. The nerve gear is able to act like a microwave. The population is informed about this situation and there won't be any attempts to free you from this world and your bodies were taken care of so you won't need to worry about that. One last thing if you die in this game you will die in the real world too so be careful. In your inventory is a little gift to show you that this is now our life. I wish you all luck, players.˼

Dead silence. Nobody was able to form a sentence. Then everyone started screaming about this not being possible and wanting to go home. Alaton wasn't sure what to think right now. He "felt in love" with the world as soon as he entered it and didn't want to leave it but to stay here for a long time was this what he wanted? All the players started moving around hysterically. Some went to the hunting grounds and soon a lot of players followed. Everywhere were blue flashes of light and many players changed appearance. What was happening why did a lot of girls turn into boys?

A beeping sound broke Alaton out of his thoughts. He looked down and saw a window with a private message from Heathcliff. "Leave the city through the east gate and follow the rout to the next village. There shouldn't be that strong monsters. Meet me there we need to talk. And hurry" It was the only person Alaton knew in the game so he decided to go there and maybe Heathcliff had some more information. With the ˹Sprint˼ ability it wouldn't take Alaton that long to get to the next village and he would train it too.


	5. A new village

**Username: **Alaton

**Level: **2

**STR **5

**AGI **10

_points remaining: 0_

**blade throwing: **8

**Sprint **15

**X-Ray vision: **4

**Nightvision **0

_free skill slot_

Heathcliff paled at the announcement that Sword art online turned into a death game. This couldn't be, that wasn't possible. He manipulated his menu furiously, the administration section was missing too. Why the hell was his game-master status changed? Then it hit him. It was the third rule of the AI _'All__ players are to be treated equally' _He was a player and nothing more. He couldn't do anything more then anyone else.

Yui was their only hope, she was the only one with administration rights. She could turn of the servers and free them all. Why didn't it happen already was she affected from this rule too? Then they had an even bigger problem. The system was absolutely prove. There was no known way to hack it. To shut it down could take years and that would be the same time the would need to clear the game.

Forcing the servers down with cutting them from the power-source wouldn't work either. They were located in different places and a huge part of the system was running on the nerve-gears. Trying something like this would most likely result in the death of all players. That left only one thing left to do. Playing the game and beating the game and Cardinal. It could take a long time, but they couldn't do anything else except waiting for a miracle to happen.

With trembling fingers Heatcliff closed the menu. What had he done? He created a prison for 10000 players and many would most likely die. He couldn't look at the faces of the other players. It was all his fault. He started to run and while everyone seemed to be frozen. Heathcliff slipped out of the village to run to the next one, to escape all the players, to escape his guilt.

While running he knew some really bad things would happen. It was bound to humanity that when a large group had to face a new dangerous situation some would panic, some would commit suicide. It will take a while till this would stop and the players manage to live with the situation. This would undoubtedly happen, but it will take a few moths. The picture of one player appeared in front his eyes. Alaton. He was an interesting player, who didn't follow the meta and seemed to focus on other game features then farming monsters and leveling. This however could easily lead to his death. In a classic MMORPG players like him are the ones who take away the soon boring routine of farming and questing, but also are the players who die very often. Playing like this wasn't a good idea here.

Heathcliff decided to warn him. He was the only player in his friend-list ant so he sent Alaton a PM telling him to meet at the gate of the second village. On the way Heathcliff saw a fem monster mobs but with not leaving the road and passing by quickly he didn't have to fight. A few meters in front of the gate he received a reply to the PM sent to Alaton saying that Alaton was on his way. It didn't take long for Alaton to appear and walking up to Heathcliff. Both not having used the mirror item still had their created Avatar.

Alaton raised his hand and greeted Heathcliff. Then they looked at each other for some time not saying a word. Then Alaton broke the silence.

"What are we going to do now." he asked with low voice.

Knowing what Alaton meant Heathcliff shrugged his shoulder. Know being in front of Alaton, Healthcliff didn't know what to talk with him about. It would be suspiciously when he started to asked questions about Alaton's skill and he would most likely asked questions back Heathcliff didn't want to answer. Then again Alaton had to now some things to have a high possibility to survive.

"Alaton. I was a beta-tester and all the beta testers had at least died once in the game. The monsters are not the most dangerous factor. There are traps which are set to trap or even kill the players. There weren't traps like that on the first floor in the beta-test, but they got really annoying later and were responsible for a lot of deaths. Do you have the skill detection?"

Alaton shook his head.

"You definitely should take that skill. On one hand it helps you avoiding traps, on the other hand you can detect hidden monsters who would jump at you to surprise you and deal a lot of damage."

Alaton thought about this for some time and nodded. He still had one skill-slot left and Heathcliff sounded reasonable. He still preferred skills that wouldn't be take by everyone else to be "different" and ˹detection˼ was a skill nearly everyone would take.

"Did you take that skill too?" Alaton asked curious.

"Yes I took it along with a sword skill and a shield. Along with the ˹block˼ skill. I want to be able to stand in front of a monster and block all the hits, and sustain a lot of damage. The downside of this build is, that I am too slow to avoid being hit by most enemies and won't be able to deal as much damage as players who can attack faster and hit weak spots often."

Alaton nodded in understanding. It was the opposite of his build. He wanted to be agile to avoid being hit and to hit from the distance. Alaton focused on weak-spots to because else his attacks wouldn't deal much damage. A player with high defense and one who with higher damage could take out monster mobs easily and efficiently.

Silence again. It was hard to think of something to talk about. Both didn't want to talk about the game which wasn't a game anymore. Taking about the real world would only be depressing. And else there wasn't much left to talk about. Alaton looked into the sky, the sun was setting already. He manipulated his menu and sent Heathcliff a party request.

"Let's go farming a bit before it gets dark. We can talk later."

Heathcliff smiled. That was better then looking at each other and trying to find something to talk about. Further they had to get strong to clear the game and Heathcliff was determined to clear the game and free everyone. So the two set out of the village to the nearest hunting field to start farming together.


	6. strange object

**Username: **Alaton

**Level: **2

**STR **5

**AGI **10

_points remaining: 0_

**Blade throwing: **8

**Sprint: **15

**X-Ray vision: **6

**Nightvision: **0

**Detection **0

Alaton jumped to the side avoiding the wolf attacking him. He drew another blade throwing it at the wolf. This kind of monster was a real pain in Alaton's ass because they didn't have any special weak point meaning Alaton didn't make much damage. Heathcliff wasn't doing much better either. Although Heathcliff dealt more damage he had to be very careful not being hit to often. Knowing that your life was at stake made this game a lot different. You kept looking at your HP bar to reassure yourself having enough life left and this could cause fatal mistakes. You always feel the pressure of not making any mistakes because this also can end really bad.

Looking down Alaton saw that his skill cool-down only lasted for one more second and readied himself for the next attack. He took out his knives and activated ˹three-knives shot˼ throwing all the knives at the wolf. It let out a cry before disappearing in crystal polygons. Alaton looked over to Heathcliff, who was finishing the last wolf with a series of fast sword strikes.

Alaton focused on the system window which had appeared in his field of vision. It announced that he had reached level 3. At least the hard fighting was worth it. He closed the window and walked ti Heathcliff. He had still about 60% of his health left but it would be safer to heal the damage.

"Heathcliff how do you get health potions or some other healing items."

Hathcliff chuckled. "I bought some waiting for you. Here." He materialized a little flask with a red liquid giving it Alaton. Then a second one to drink it. While Alaton was emptying the flask he could watch his HP refill.

"Thanks I need to buy some too as soon as we are back in the village."

Alaton looked the already orange-red sky. The sun was setting and another time he was astonished because of the beauty of this world. The sunset looked more realistic than in the real world. He sat down onto the grass to cool his mind down and to spent a short time enjoying the world. Heathcliff sat down beside him and seemed to be in deep thoughts.

"Although this is a prison it has to be the most beautiful one." Heathcliff just nodded but he felt a chill run down his back. This was still his fault.

"Alaton we should go hunting until it gets dark. Tomorrow other players will probably reach this field and we can't farm well anymore. Now it was Alaton's turn to nod. The both stood up and walked deeper into the field. The respawn time on this field was quite high so they didn't have to think about mobs respawning behind them. And there was the next group of wolfs. This time staying together Heatcliff initiated with a gap-closer sword skill and then blocked the wolfs attacking him. In the meantime Alaton began throwing knives at them to deal as much damage as possible. Getting used to the wolfs attacking patterns it got easier and easier to fight them.

The shadows were getting longer and the sunlight started to fade, but Alaton and Heathcliff were still farming. Then they decided to get back to the city before it would get to dark and they could get lost.

"Heathcliff we are fighting quite strong monsters, how is it that we gain so less Exp?" Alaton couldn't understand this in every other MMORPG the first maybe 10 levels were gained quite easily. "Aincrad has 100 floors and you can reach level 100 one level for each floor. It believe we get less Exp because we are level 3 already." Heatcliff knew that in the 1 moth beta test the highest leveled player reached level 10 and that the weren't able to defeat the first boss. It surly will take a lot more time to get a party of high enough leveled players to try the boss without someone's death.

"Wait whats that?" Alaton suddenly shouted. Heathcliff looked the direction Alton was pointing and saw it too. It looked like a destroyed obelisk. They both approached it carefully looking around for any traps. Nothing. Heathcliff had a bad feeling. He didn't program this feature. It wasn't there in the beta. That meant Cardinal had added it. On one hand Cardinal had to obey rules so this couldn't be too dangerous, on the other hand he could "understand" the rules differently and then you couldn't predict what was going to happen. Heathcliff stopped but Alaton walked to the object. Nothing happened. He touched it, nothing. He walked around it, nothing. No quest nothing.

Heathcliff was relieved and joined Alaton. It was strange why would but Cardinal an object like this here and it would do nothing. He walked to Alaton who was staring at a part of intact wall. There was a strange set of lines with 5 crystals in different colors. He touched them tried to move them or do something but still nothing happened. He looked closer at other parts of the obelisk and could find the lines on other different places. He tried to connect them in his head to see the whole, but he didn't mange to see through it. Then he could feel Heathcliff's hand on his shoulder. They had to head back to the village before it was to late. The light was a lot dimmer already and so they started running to make it in time.


	7. first night

**Username: **Alaton

**Level: **3

**STR **5

**AGI **10

_points remaining: 5_

**Blade throwing: **12

**Sprint: **16

**X-Ray vision: **8

**Nightvision: **0

**Detection **2

They reached the village faster than they had anticipated, but it was probable a good thing because they had much time left before the npc shops were closing, so they could sell the loot they got from the monsters. It brought them quite a bit of money, not enough to buy better equipment, but enough for some health-potions. Thy would surly become the most important items in this world. In all other MMORPGS players hardly ever buy health potion, this however wasn't an MMORPG anymore.

Heathcliff and alaton walked to the only inn in the little village and rented two rooms for the night. It was the safest place to stay. Maybe someone in the real world had already found a way to free them and they would wake up free from this nightmare. Alaton walked into his room and watched the sunset through the window. The red had gotten darker and darker, hundreds of stars and big moon light the sky. It was strange to look into this sky it looked so realistic and at the same time it was clear that it wasn't real. Nothing here was real but it was their only reality at the moment.

After some time watching Alaton decided to go to sleep. Unequipping everything uncomfortable he lay down on the bed. Looking at the ceiling he tried to fall asleep, but he couldn't. His mind wasn't able to get rest. Too much had happened in the last few hours. First his dream came true and he could use his legs again. Second he was captured and imprisoned in that dream. Lastly they had to defeat 100 bosses without dieing once. In one moth beta-test, the testers weren't able to beat the first boss. Further they died many times. This could take more than a lifetime and their bodies would probably die before they manage to beat the game.

Was there any use in trying to beat a computer who had all the cards in his hands who could simply and their life. Many players would lose their hope within days many would die soon in the game and the rest would try to beat the game. Alaton himself wasn't sure if he wanted to beat the game, because in the real world he had his disability no friends nothing really worth living for. In this world everything was better for him beside the danger of dieing. Back in his mind a voice was trying to convince him that he should just be an egoist and just do whatever he wanted, bu he couldn't do that could he. No he couldn't live with the thought of abandoning the hope of all the players ant them with it. He wouldn't be able to look into a mirror knowing that he didn't do anything to help getting free of this dream/nightmare.

Maybe he could combine the "enjoying the world" with helping clearing the game. The problem was that for clearing the game you needed to rise your level and this was only possible with questing and farming. For some days that could be fun but it was getting boring soon. It wasn't what Alaton really wanted. He realized it just this evening. It was tho one thing he hated in all these level-based RPGs you had to farm and farm o get to a level to continue in the story. He just wanted the story or special events (without farming) and the quest mostly weren't better. "kill x monsters" or "find x items after killing monsters" it was the same all the time. He wouldn't be able to live just doing this.

Maybe he could help the other players help beating the game in another way. In every game there were easter-eggs, little secrets and special quests. It was very hard to find them, but the could give little advantages. This was an MMORPG. Maybe the best, surely there was something like this in here too. He could go looking for this secrets, for special quest and alike and then tell other players so that they can get the special items too. If he decided to do this he wouldn't be able to fight alongside the other players because he wouldn't have the required level to sustain boss attacks especially with not building STR for heavy armor. Further this quests could get very dangerous and he would mostly have to do them on his own which would raise the risk, was it worth it?

He stood up, he couldn't think of sleeping anymore. Did you have to sleep in this world? The body was still asleep outside. Even if it was necessary to sleep there a studies which say the brain can live with only 2 hours sleep a day if the body wasn't exhausted. He wouldn't bet that he could live with that less sleep but a fem more hours staying awake wouldn't hurt either. Especially now, when he couldn't even think about sleeping.

Alaton left the inn in the direction of a field. It was quite dark, but the moon and stars gave enough light that he was able to see the outlines of everything. He walked a little bit but wanted to stay near the village in case of an emergency. He the saw the outlines of a monster and drew his knives to fight. The skill animation let his blade glow and the flash of light illuminated his surroundings. Alaton was shocked the monster he was throwing his knives at wasn't the monster he had expected. It was a different kind he had never seen before. The it hit him. It was night of course he would meet different monsters now. Swallowing hard he avoided the monsters attacks to get into position to fight back.

The monsters seemed stronger, faster and harder to kill. This was much more dangerous then Alaton had anticipated. He could get a clean weak-spot hit either because he couldn't see much. Trying to search for the weak-spot with the light of the skill he hoped to remember them and the hitting them blindly. He was very glad that he took night-vision without it he wouldn't probably be able to see anything. After some time which seemed like minutes to him he finally managed to kill the beast. He panted hard before he remembered that he hadn't to breath. He had to be more careful, now he was still able to avoid being hit but this won't be forever the case.


End file.
